Mum of Claudia Lawrence left ‘stunned’ at Nicola Bulley’s disappearance
The mother of missing Claudia Lawrence says the disappearance of Nicola Bulley left her feeling ‘stunned’.
Both women seemingly vanished without a trace.
Claudia, a chef who worked at York University, lived in the Hemsworth area of the city.
The 35-year-old was last seen on March 18, 2009.
Police believe Claudia was murdered, but no body has ever been found despite widespread investigations.
Her mother, Joan, says the disappearance of Nicola has ‘brought it all back’.
She knows exactly how the mum-of-two’s family, in St. Michaels on Wyre in Lancashire, will be feeling.
She told ITV news: ‘When it first came on the news I was very, very upset. I cried my eyes out for the family, for me, for Claudia.
‘The similarities – it was very painful, it brought it all back.
‘I have tried to get messages to the family to say if they want to contact me, to talk to me – especially the mum – that I understand exactly what they’re going through.
‘As the days have gone on, they won’t be eating, they won’t be sleeping.’
Joan still lights a candle each night for Claudia and says a prayer every morning to wish for her return.
Initially, her daughter’s disappearance was treated as a missing person case. It was only later than a murder investigation was announced.
There have been numerous arrests and renewed appeals over the years, but she has never been found.
Joan, 79, says there are similar unanswered questions between Claudia and Nicola’s disappearance.
She continued: ‘As somebody said to me, somebody doesn’t just disappear into thin air – they are there somewhere and somebody knows where they are. I think that was it – [Ms Bulley] just suddenly disappeared and there was no trace and this is what has happened to Claudia.’
Joan’s interview with ITV comes as the partner of Nicola, who was at home when she vanished, revealed ‘nothing had been different’ before her disappearance.
Paul Ansell sat down with Channel 5’s Dan Walker to explain the couple’s ‘totally normal’ morning routine on Friday, January 27.
He and Nicola had sat down and watched television before going to bed separately, he explained.
Dan asked if she had mentioned any ‘struggle’ or if ‘anything was wrong’, to which Paul responded no.
Family and friends of Nicola have questioned the police theory that she probably fell into the water while walking her dog, after dropping her children off at school on January 27.
And the underwater search expert called in to help look for her said the case is a ‘complete mystery’ after failing to find any sign of her.
The focus of the search for the missing mum Bulley has now extended further downstream, near to where the River Wyre reaches the Irish Sea at Morecambe Bay.
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